Housekeeping tips

HildaCorners

A couple of things that have helped me over the years:

- buy a small broom and dustpan on a stick set. I bought mine so my oldest could "help" clean. The set isn't toy tools (which rarely work well, one exception below), but small adult ones. Not only did my kids use them, but I still (17 years later) use them all the time for small sweeping.

- the exception above is the kid's toy snow shovel. My 14 year old still uses this, and because it's all plastic and small, it's great for shoveling off the car after a foot comes down.

- my best cleaning discovery is microfiber towels. They do everything! Dry, they are great for dusting. Wet (water only) they clean better than any paper towel and cleaner option I've ever used. When they're soiled, launder them and they're good as new. I even give them to my son as a towel for Scout camping trips.
I bought mine for about $15 for 36 at Costco, but Amazon also sells them.

Purple

@Avalinette‌ ;
Its a great mixture, isn't it?? I use it to scrub my couches! Actually, I use vinegar in just about all my cleaning.

I use about 2 part vinegar to 1 part dish soap. When I'm using it on my couches, I put 2 (or 3) parts hot water too!

Avalinette

@pornwidow and @HildaCorners, tell me more about microfibre. I've always been fascinated and wanted to try them. I bought some a few months ago. I got one of those packs with different cloths for different surfaces. The kitchen one is the only one I've tried using and it's been disappointing. It gets dirty so fast and then I'm just wiping grease everywhere. I've laundered it a few times and it doesn't seem to come clean (it comes back kinda stiff) and it leaves a bit of a smell on the rest of the load. I seem to have better luck with those semi-disposable blue kitchen cloths (which I also launder and re-use).

Avalinette

@HildaCorners, I love my daughter's 'toy' cleaning equipment. She has a little broom and mop (they're from a toy store, but the same type and quality as my grown-up ones) and for a feather duster I bought her one of those mini ones that are meant for computer screens. She also has a mini table top vacuum. It was mine, but I never used it because it was too dinky and only picks up tiny crumbs...but tiny crumbs are exactly what she wants to vacuum up and so it's perfect for her. (She uses the full size vacuum too). I love that she's at the age now when her helping is becoming actually helpful.

Avalinette

@pornwidow, I like the concept of flylady, but I don't think it would work with my personality. I might try it if I'm ever in the stage of life of going out to work and not having little kids underfoot.

Avalinette

Thanks, @purple.

HildaCorners

Microfiber comes in different quality. Like I said, the ones I like are sold as car washing cloths — about16" square and thick.

Because they are so big, I fold them several times, and when one side gets greasy, I re-fold. When it's too filthy to use, I wash them. Over time they get less fuzzy, and I sue those for wiping up the floor, cleaning the oven, and other real nasty work.

I'm with you on FlyLady ... I started with her in the late 1990s, and the system worked fairly well — but she was more flexible then. Last time I signed up, I found she sent out about 5 non-cleaning posts (testimonials, plugs for her friends, and quasi-religious propaganda) for each cleaning post, and the cleaning posts were very rigid. And incomplete — you may only need to clean the baseboards once a year, but they do need to be cleaned and on the list!

I did take what I liked about the FlyLady system and modified it to suit me. I have a binder with a "Weekly Cleaning Hour" checklist and also detail lists for each part of the house. They're all in plastic sleeves, and I use a dry erase marker to check off the items when I do them. Then wipe the sleeve clean for the next time period.

JellyBean

@Avalinette‌ I don't care for Fly Lady, either.  I prefer http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/

Jek

I fold or hang the clothes as I take them from the dryer.  It seems faster, and the temptation to sit down is gone.

Laundry sorters are a must, deletes the sorting job.

I have a hand towel in the bathroom that is only used to wipe the sink when it gets used.  If I shave, brush my teeth, etc., I clean it with water and wipe the sink and counter with the dry towel.

I have the same purpose towel in the kitchen.

When I had a dishwasher.  I would load it at night, put the top tray away before work, then the bottom tray as soon as I got home.

Vacuum-Only tip I can give is to look for one with a 50 foot cord, I bought the commercial style. I usually vacuumed every other day or sooner.  I now have hardwood floors.  I havent found a shortcut, lol.  I dont wear shoes in my place, i have house sandals, so that helps a lot in keeping everything clean.

I use cleaning caddys. One for the kitchen, one for bathroom, one for other areas.  It organizes everything easier and I dont have to select which product for what.

  I use different color rags for each kitchen/Bathroom/general.  I dont like using the same towel to wipe down the outside of the toilet, that I use for counters, or anything else.
example: Blue is for bathroom, but solid blue is for the toilet, blue/white stripe is for the counter.

The toilet is a pet peeve. I am in the habit of wiping it quickly with toilet paper after each use, takes 10 seconds.  Then a good scrub Saturday am.

Captain_Hammer

@Avalinette we have made a institution of folding. We sit down one night a week once the kids are in bed, put on a few episodes of whatever TV series we are watching and fold like mad, then I get her to make me a cup of tea! We are all winners. I had to purchase more school uniforms, socks and underwear for me and the kids so we would never have to do it more than once a week.

Avalinette

Sorry for disappearing: we've been having computer woes and I've been unable to get to the forum for the last few weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to posting (and reading) regularly in a few weeks time.

Avalinette

That's some awesome organising, @Jek!

We now have 4 laundry baskets in our closet and we sort the clothes as we take them off and then every day just take down the fullest basket to wash.

We're doing well staying on top of washing the laundry, but still habitually behind in the folding and putting away department. I sometimes set my timer for 10 or 15 minutes and just do a folding blitz (and sometimes H will do it with me). It's amazing how fast it actually goes once I get going.

I'm nearly done marking all the kids clothes (one dot for oldest, 2 dots for next etc...someone on this forum suggested the method, I forget who) which helps with sorting, especially for H who can't tell them apart. I've also started sorting their clothes into full outfits (similar to @Athol_Kay 's system) and I put a full outfit including diaper in a bag. H loves the ease of getting them dressed in the morning, and it's easy to grab spare clothes when we go out or when there's an accident. The lucky dip aspect is kinda fun too and it's a lot easier to keep their pants/skirts and shirts co-ordinated.

Avalinette

I got a vacuum cleaner for Christmas ! Yes, it's what I asked for. I was surprised to actually get it because I wanted a tall one (so I don't have to bend over) and one that could deal with wet messes (toddlers...) and didn't think that would be within budget. Turns out, the solution was to go to a hardware store: I think it's actually meant to be a shed vacuum. Because it's made for a man, it's nice and tall and it does wet messes. It also seems to suck harder than my old vacuum. As a bonus, it has a leaf blower option...

Hubby bought a super long extention cord and it lives in the garage permanently plugged in and reaches practically everywhere in the house, even upstairs, so now, dealing with dirty floors is fairly quick and easy.

Avalinette

I mentioned flylady to my husband along with a description of the first few days (day one is scrub your sink) and why it totally wasn't me...the next day HE scrubbed our kitchen sink...

HowlAtTheMoon

I thought you yesterday when I spent two hours sorting and folding laundry only to dump six more loads onto the pile by bedtime.
 lol

Avalinette

Oh @HowlAtTheMoon , how appropriate...I folded the entire backlog of clean laundry yesterday and at the end of the day had a new load fresh from the line.

nubby

One of my favourite cleaning tips. Put wax paper on the tops of the kitchen cabinets. Replace once or twice a year. Saves a lot of time cleaning.

Maria

I use old newspaper.